| In 1998, Earl Shindruk brought together his love of community, background in business and experience in employee benefits to create Optimax Benefits. After 25 successful years of establishing and maintaining comprehensive employee benefits packages for Alberta businesses, Earl sat down with us to reflect upon the past two and a half decades. “I knew from the beginning that this company would have a large focus on giving back to the community,” Earl shared. “That was something I learned firsthand as a young boy, working with my father and mother as they ran a general store in rural Alberta. Your community supports you and you, in turn, support the community; it’s that simple. I’ve always considered it an honour to give back to the community and to encourage my friends and associates to join me.” One of the first big projects that Earl quarterbacked with a friend was a golf tournament for Jasper Place Wellness. “Edmonton is a very enthusiastic, can-do city with a strong sense of community – so many people came out to help on this project. Rob Christie and Erin Isfeld from the media side, football players, Edmonton Oilers players and a number of great sponsors. We wanted to raise money for the land upon which one of their apartment buildings now stands. In one day, we were able to raise $114,000. That was an eye-opener for me, realizing how much of a difference a few people could make. For me, this success reinforced the responsibility we had to continue helping and led to the creation of the Optimax Open Golf Tournament. This annual fundraiser is just one of many initiatives we’re involved in, giving us the chance to help numerous worthy organizations, like The Today Family Violence Help Centre, Bissell Centre and The Adeara Recovery Centre, just to mention a few.” Earl also helped to form the NPO Collective, a group of professionals who are able to provide a variety of resources to the not for profit community. Each member has specific expertise in an area such as legal, accounting, HR consulting, commercial insurance, board governance, IT, banking and a few others. The Collective has been able to assist many not for profit organizations in Edmonton and surrounding communities. Earl also used the experience of his father’s General Store when it came to establishing the business practices of Optimax. A very notable practice is a high level of engagement with all clients. Optimax has multiple touchpoints with every client during the year. “I wanted to invest the time to get to know my clients and truly understand the challenges they were facing. This was ambitious because I was the only full-time employee, but it was the right thing to do… the only way I knew how to proceed. Clients appreciated that I was local. If they had a problem or a question, they could pick up the phone and I’d be at their shop, discussing options and solutions over a coffee the next day.” “I enjoy meeting business owners in all sorts of industries and professions. Each one of them has a story to tell about how they founded and grew their business. They are more than happy to let me know about their victories and struggles and how they want to look after their employees when they have issues such as mental health challenges, and medical or dental needs to meet. We enjoy assisting the owners with giving their workers peace of mind so they can continue to focus on their work and not be distracted.” “It also made sense for me to be there in person,” Earl continued. “By seeing the operation in action, I could identify potential risks and opportunities. For example, if employees were standing all day on a concrete floor, I made sure their benefits package included orthotics, massages and chiropractic services. Every workplace has different challenges and demands; I wanted to tailor the benefits package to be an ideal fit. Occasionally, I’d welcome a new client that had simply renewed an existing package without doing an annual analysis on the coverage. I found one plan that hadn’t been revised in twenty years; it still included massage therapy but only paid $15 a visit. That clearly didn’t address today’s reality, so we updated it. Another client had a plan that featured no mental health coverage, which has a huge and growing demand today. The cap on medications is also a big one for clients – fortunately we monitor and establish relationships with benefits providers across Canada so we can improve the effectiveness of almost any existing plan.” Earl summed it up this way: “It’s hard to describe the satisfaction of doing a deep dive into an employee benefits plan and offering an alternative, comprehensive, targeted plan that provides so much more for the employees and actually saves money for the organization. That’s exactly what I wanted to achieve when I founded Optimax.”  Todd Shindruk – Earl Shindruk – Carlee Franczak As Earl continued to establish himself and his business in Edmonton, he found other ways to give back to the community. Education of clients, HR professional and others is a distinguishing characteristic of Optimax Benefits. “I had the good fortune to teach part time for 11 years at MacEwan University. I taught Employee Benefits multiple times and also taught Human Resources Introduction twice. It’s exciting to work with young HR professionals and watch them learn, grow and enter their chosen profession. Often, I’ll bump into a past student who can’t wait to share his or her experiences with me. And when they do, those stories all have one thing in common. They’re not about making money or climbing the corporate ladder – they’re about how they were able to improve the lives of employees in an organization.” We asked Earl what he’d like his students to remember about his classes. “Well, I came up with an acronym for creating a benefits package and it always brings a smile to my face when they can remember it. LADSLED.” Life Insurance Accidental Death and Dismemberment Dependent Life Short Term Disability Long Term Disability Extended Health Care Dental Care “If they remember that, they’re doing well.” Twenty-five years of working in the Alberta capital region has also afforded Earl the chance to create some lasting friendships, including a number of clients who have become friends. The relationships that were developed will stay with Earl for a very long time. One important element of growing business and personal relationships is providing others with opportunities to connect on a regular basis. “In 2007, four of us started getting together informally to discuss HR topics and trends: Lore Clark, Julianna Cantwell and Matthew Smallacombe. We eventually formalized our group as ‘The Four Musketeers’ and continue to host regular networking and information-sharing events with hundreds of guests in attendance over the years. We continue to meet every quarter and have a large number of attendees that come to every event.” What would you like to say to your clients for their support over the past 25 years? Optimax is well known for treating all clients with kindness and care. “Obviously… thank you! I appreciate this dynamic city that thinks big, and still appreciates the values of a small town. We are very grateful to all of our loyal clients and partners – it means the world to us that you choose to work with Optimax, and we hope you know how hard we work for you. Our philosophy has been to work as a team with each client, almost like an in-house HR department, and that relationship means we can provide the most tailored and specific benefits package a company can expect. There’s no better community in Canada and we’re proud to be a part of it.” Photo of Edmonton skyline courtesy: Justin Hu on Unsplash |
Optimax Benefits – 25 Years of Serving Alberta
28th June 2023
